Park Jin hee

Career

Park made her acting debut in 1996 teen drama Start, and rose to stardom in the 1998 horror film Whispering Corridors. She was praised for her emotional performance as a single mother in the KBS television series Stock Flower in 2001, but her other TV dramas were deemed forgettable. She starred in a string of commercial fare on the big screen, namely, Promenade with Kim Sang-joong, Just Do It! with Park Sang-myun, Star with Yoo Oh-sung, and Love in Magic with Yeon Jung-hoon, as well as the indie Love Talk with Bae Jong-ok and Park Hee-soon in 2005, but none of her films achieved critical or box office success. Park then stopped working for a year and a half, deciding to take some time off for a little introspection. The hiatus paid off in 2006 when she returned to the small screen in Please Come Back, Soon-ae, playing a 40-something ajumma trapped in the body of a sexy young 20-something (with the reverse played by Shim Hye-jin). The body swap comedy was a hit, with average ratings of 25%.

Her popularity continued in 2007 when her drama with Park Shin-yang, War of Money reached ratings of over 30%. As a righteous woman facing a slew of financial hardships, Park's acting was recognized at the SBS Drama Awards. She then drew laughs as a narcissistic character in the film Underground Rendezvous, a 1980s-set comedy about the North-South divide co-starring Im Chang-jung. But her next film would be even more high-profile: Shadows in the Palace, a mystery thriller set during the reign of King Jeongjo (1752-1800). Playing a court medic who investigates a murder within the ranks of the royal harem and household (the film's Korean title translates to gungnyeo, or "palace women"), Park received critical acclaim for her performance, with one review calling it "the peak of her 10-year acting career." She won Best Actress at the Golden Cinematography Awards and the Fantasia Festival.

Following the 2008 film Sweet Lie (also known as Lost and Found) in which her character pretends to have amnesia to snag her dream guy, Park continued to explore the romantic comedy genre in The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry (also known as Still, Marry Me). In the low-rated 2010 series, she played a career woman in her 30s who falls for a musician ten years her junior (played by Kim Bum). Park then joined the epic period drama Giant, set during the economic boom of 1970-80s Korea, and co-starring Lee Beom-soo and Park Sang-min. The series was a hit with TV critics and audiences, with a ratings peak of 40%. And Park's portrayal of a vengeance-driven, ambitious woman who finds success as a loan shark was again lauded at the SBS Drama Awards.

She and Kim Hae-sook played mother and daughter in the melodrama A Long Visit (also known as My Mom), followed by Park's cameo appearance in war film 71: Into the Fire.

Park reunited with Stock Flower director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo in her next television series Fermentation Family, which aired on cable channel jTBC in 2011. She played a woman who takes over her father's kimchi restaurant and rediscovers her love for cooking and family, as she fights with and falls for a gangster played by Song Il-gook.

In 2012, she and John Park appeared in Music and Lyrics, an MBC Music reality show in which an actress and a male singer are paired together as lyricist and composer, respectively, to create a song. The song they composed, Maybe, Maybe, was recorded by Alex Chu and Horan of Clazziquai. Later that year, her arthouse film with Park Ji-yoon was released. Part-mystery, part-coming-of-age film, Grape Candy explored the nostalgia and tension at the reunion of two old high school friends who share a painful past.

Park joined the cast of Hur Jun, the Original Story (in Korean, Gu-am Heo Jun), about the Joseon-era royal physician Heo Jun (played by Kim Joo-hyuk). The historical drama aired daily on MBC in 2013.

Other activities

In 2008, Park appeared in a Coreana cosmetics commercial dressed in a Nazi uniform. Amid protests from Jewish and international groups, the company apologized for their ill-conceived concept and pulled out the commercial after two days.

Park was one of the 40,000 volunteers who helped clean up after the 2007 MT Hebei Spirit oil spill in Taean County, South Chungcheong Province, the worst oil spill in Korean history. She came as part of the volunteer group Information Network Village (of which she was spokesperson), which aims to reduce the digital gap between rural and urban areas.

To promote the 2009 Green Film Festival in Seoul, she appeared in the short film Take Action, Now or Never!, directed by Kim Tae-yong. In the short, Park advocates riding bicycles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She was the 2012 honorary ambassador for the NGO Korea Green Foundation.

For her 2010 master's degree thesis for Yonsei University, "Studies on Depression and Suicidal Urges Among Actors," Park interviewed 260 actors with incomes ranging from ₩10 million-per-episode to less than ₩1 million a month. According to her findings, 40 percent were suffering from depression, and 20 percent have actually purchased pills or toxic agents and "devices" for suicide. Park said in the paper that the extreme stress to stay young and attractive and to remain in the limelight, or the job instability for lesser-known actors, drives them to mental anguish; and despite the perception of glamor and public adoration, actors are "some of the most lonesome and troubled."

Personal life

Park married her boyfriend, a lawyer, on May 11, 2014 at the Hotel Shilla. She gave birth to her first child in December 2014.

Film

Television series

Variety show

Music video

Radio program

Awards